Monthly Archives: January 2021

No one is safe under Xi Jinpings regime in China: that is the conclusion of a major new report released this week by the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission and endorsed by two former foreign secretaries, two former Conservative Party leaders, the Chair of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, the last governor of Hong Kong and other distinguished politicians.

Titled The Darkness Deepens: The Crackdown on Human Rights in China 2016-2020, the report ends with a description of the regimes behaviour, which it describes as the images that reveal the truth about the mendacity, brutality, inhumanity, insecurity and criminality of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime.

The suffering of the Uyghurs features prominently, not only in a specific chapter which describes the evidence as indicative of genocide but also in chapters on modern day slavery, the surveillance state and religious persecution.

The Commission notes the leading role the Jewish community has played in drawing the worlds attention to this unfolding tragedy.

Indeed the chapter on the Uyghurs begins with a quote from the late former Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks, who said last year that as a Jew, knowing our history, the sight of people being shaven headed, lined up, boarded onto trains and sent to concentration camps is particularly harrowing.

It cites the letter from the President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews to the Chinese Ambassador in London, in which she describes similarities between what is alleged to be happening in the Peoples Republic of China today and what happened in Nazi Germany 75 years ago.

And it argues that when the Jewish community is drawing rare comparisons with the Holocaust, it is time for the international community to wake up and take the reports of atrocity crimes extremely seriously and with the utmost urgency.

But while the crimes inflicted on the Uyghurs are especially egregious, the pattern of repression is across the board in China. According to evidence the Commission received in its inquiry, Christians are facing the worst persecution since the Cultural Revolution, with churches destroyed, crosses torn down, pictures of Xi Jinping and Communist propaganda replacing religious images and priests and pastors jailed.

In Tibet, the decades-long repression is intensifying. Space that a decade or so ago existed, however constrained, for human rights defenders, lawyers, civil society activists, bloggers, citizen journalists, whistleblowers and dissidents has almost completely disappeared. And Hong Kong has been transformed within months from one of Asias freest cities to a closed and repressed one as the regime tears up its promises and dismantles freedom, in flagrant breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, an international treaty registered at the United Nations.

Torture is widespread, slavery endemic and an Orwellian surveillance state has been rolled out at alarming speed with the direct complicity of Chinas major technology companies such as Huawei and Hikvision. Forced organ harvesting continues, forced televised confessions broadcast on state television are now common, and new laws allow for arbitrary arrests, imprisonment and disappearances.

In light of this evidence, the Commission urges the British government to conduct a wholesale review of UK-China policy and strategy, and work to build an international coalition of democracies to coordinate a global response to this human rights crisis. It calls for targeted sanctions, diversification of supply chains, action to end forced labour within supply chains, the establishment of accountability mechanisms and leadership at the United Nations to establish a specific human rights mechanism for China, as called for last year by 50 current UN special rapporteurs.

The report was launched the day after the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced new measures to address what he described as barbarism on an industrial scale. These include new export controls to prevent British firms from using products sourced from Uyghur slave labour. His strong words and new measures are very welcome, and represent a marked shift from the policy of appeasement we have seen until recently. But they do not go far enough. The very next day the United States banned all cotton products and tomatoes from Xinjiang we should follow suit. The time for tip-toeing and tinkering has gone: we need robust action in the scale of such egregious crimes.

Next Tuesday the House of Commons will vote on a genocide amendment to the Trade Bill. Passed by the House of Lords last month with an extraordinary majority of 287 to 181, this historic amendment would allow our courts to make a determination in cases of alleged genocide and, if proven, require the government not to sign trade deals with states convicted of this crime of crimes. It has the support of some of Britains most eminent figures, including the former Lord Chief Justice, the former heads of the RAF and MI5, former Cabinet Ministers, bishops and all the Opposition parties, and is being led in the House of Commons by the former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith. Members of Parliament on all sides should back it, and their constituents should contact them before Tuesday to urge them to do so.

An independent tribunal into forced organ harvesting in China, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, who prosecuted Slobodan Milosevic, reminds us that those interacting with the regime in Beijing should do so in the knowledge that they are interacting with a criminal state.

It is time to stand up to that criminal state and hold it to account. Failure to do so will result in the darkness that continues to deepen in China engulfing us too.

Benedict Rogers is co-founder and deputy chair of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission

See the rest here:

Plight of the Uyghurs reflects pattern of oppression in China - Jewish News

At 10.2%, New Jerseys November 2020 unemployment rate was the highest of any state in America.

The states COVID-19 restrictions have caused an economic crisis. It is wrong to blame President Donald Trump for this. Many other states had much lower unemployment rates in November, the most recent month available for state data.

But, most government workers still have their jobs, so this coronavirus thing is not going to end for a very long time. Some people have gained more money and power from this. Some of them want to erect a socialist, authoritarian state, boss us around, and limit our freedoms of speech and assembly. Theyre loving this, but theyll never admit it.

These authoritarians have harmed the existence of a lot of people. Current COVID-19 restrictions are oppression. And the wicked oppressors would like to censor any opposition to them. Gov. Phil Murphy and the state government will continue their destructive work throughout 2021.

Many people are dependent on government money and have isolated themselves from their normal social environment. When socialism is victorious, it is for materialistic reasons, not idealistic ones.

High unemployment will make people wards of the state. I expect that the crime rate is going up right now. With so many idle, and the prisons emptying, theres bound to be trouble.

Lee Lucas,Gibbstown

Trumps enablers can now witness the result

The Trump Cult has invaded the Capitol.

For five years, supporters of Donald Trump have had numerous opportunities to condemn the many despicable, inexcusable, and indefensible words and actions of the president, and each time they failed to do so. Some even rationalized his behavior.

The president was correct to a degree, when he said as a candidate that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any votes.

With the Capitol on lockdown, someone shot, and lawmakers hiding under their desks for fear of being killed, I hope the result of five years of endless Stockholm syndrome and undying loyalty to a man whose only interest is himself is now obvious to my Trump-supporting friends.

Every single time Trump didnt get his way, he and his die-hard supporters would delegitimize the media, the Democrats, the Republicans who stood up against him, and our free elections.

Weve been told that Trump supporters were the silent majority, but many are anything but silent, and they are certainly not the majority.

Congratulations to to all the politicians who aided Trump in his lawlessness. You have turned America into Venezuela.

Evan F. Grollman, Glassboro

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Strict COVID-19 rules give N.J. the lead in unemployment | Letters - nj.com

Displaced people around Syria are coming to grips with reports about their properties being auctioned off by the government, with many feeling powerless and unable to confront the land theft from cramped tents, far away from home.

Our lands, which we have spent our lives cultivating and repairing, are now being stolen, but we cannot do anything, said Abu Rayyan al-Hamwe, a displaced civilian from al-Tamanah town in rural Hama.

'Our lands, which we have spent our lives cultivating and repairing, are now being stolen, but we cannot do anything'- Abu Rayyan al-Hamwe, displaced Syrian

Four months ago, we received information that regime forces had seized our land, and leased it to people loyal to them in the region. One dunam (1,000 square metres)of our land was rented for 80,000 Syrian pounds as part of an auction by the city council.

Local authorities in areas recaptured by the government in northwest Syria have confiscated agricultural lands using the pretext that they have the right to auction off private lands whose owners don't reside in government-controlled areas".

Hamwe, a father of four, and his brothers now live in the Atma camp near the Syrian-Turkish border, after fleeing a government military campaign in 2017. They leftbehind their land and their homes.

I have 22 dunamsof agricultural land in which I grew all types of vegetables, while another part of the land was planted with olive and pomegranate trees, Hamwe told Middle East Eye.

I was able to secure all my living necessities. Now I work as a labourer in whatever is available to me to secure my daily sustenance.

In the summer of 2019, government forces, with the support of Russia and Iran-backed militias, invaded opposition-held areas in the northern countryside of Hama and the southeastern countryside of Idlib, gaining complete control of the region.

A few months later, an agreement signed between Russia and Turkey in the Russian town of Sochi largely stopped the fighting in northwestern Syria. At that point, government forces had already taken control of the entire northern countryside of Hama, most of the villages in the southern countryside of Idlib, and the entire eastern countryside.

The Syrian Legalists Committee saidthe Syrian government has divided the region into sectors and has assigned the management of each to different intelligence branches, such as the Military Intelligence Division, the Air Force Intelligence Administration, the General Intelligence Department, and the Political Security Division, in addition to Shabiha, the gangs of government-backed armed enforcers, whooperate under the leadership of the security committee in both Hama and Idlib provinces.

Abdul-Nasser Hoshan, a lawyer and member of Syrian Legalists Committee, said that the areas seized by government forces in the northern, eastern and western Hama countryside are estimated to amount to 60,000 dunams.

'No way back': The law that stops displaced Syrians from ever going home

Meanwhile, he said, the land grab has beennearly three times bigger in the southern and eastern Idlib countryside, and the southern and western Aleppo countryside.

Among the lands seized by government forces are some of Syrias major fish farms in al-Ghab Plain; lands cultivating pistachios in Morek, Kafr Zita, and al-Lataminah in Hamas north; the towns of Khan Sheikhoun and al-Tamana in Idlibs south, and lands of wheat and barley in Maaret al-Numan and Saraqib, southwest of Idlib.

The government also seized agricultural lands cultivating various vegetables and thousands of acres of olive trees, whose seasons can fetch billions of dollars in profit.

After disagreements between intelligence officers about the distribution of the crops, Simon al-Wakeel, commander of the National Defence in Mahrada city, and Nebal al-Abdullah, commander of National Defence in Suqaylabiyah city, both stationed on the road connecting the cities, were ordered to burn the harvest of wheat adjacent to their Kafrhud checkpoint.

The fire spread to the east and devoured the harvest of lands in al-Jibeen, Hasara, Zakat, al-Arbaeen, Kfar Zita, al-Lataminah, Latmine, and Morek, in the northern countryside of Hama.

The order came from the sector commander of the Air Force Intelligence.

The area that was burned covered 17,000 dunams, 7,000of which were planted with pistachios and olive trees, while the rest were planted with grains, Hoshan said.

At the beginning of September 2019, government security committees made adecision to take over the pistachio and olive seasons in newly-captured areas, where they organised auctions to sell the harvest. Meanwhile, they formed executive committees in every city and every village to count and enforce conditions of participating in the auctions, for the benefit of merchants who have dealings with intelligence branches.

'Returning to my land means that I will get rid of the hell that I live in with my children in this tent'- Abdul-Rahman al-Ahmad, displaced Syrian

Hoshan said that, until now, the government has held more than 70 public auctions in Idlib, Hama and Aleppo, the majority of which were held in the Hama countryside because its northern regions fell months before the others.

This step comes within the framework of the Assad regimes plan to strip Syrians of their movable and immovable property, whether from banks or in real estate, Hoshan said.

The government first started implementing its anti-terrorism law and then Law No. 10 in 2018, which deprived Syrians from their rights to rent, cultivate, harvest, while its forces plundered crops, offering them to militia as a reward for their crimes against the Syrian people.

Law 10 is a controversial law allowing local authorities to take possession of properties in the areas worst affected by the war.

Abdul-Rahman al-Ahmad is another displaced Syrian who lost his land in Kfar Zita, a town in rural Hama. His land holds 20 dunams of pistachio trees, and 4 dunams of olive trees.

Relatives sent Ahmad notice that his land was offered in public auction in the town of Maherd located in northern Hama and is controlled by the National Defence militia led by Wakeel.

In pictures: Pomegranate festival returns to Syrias Idlib

Ahmad was informed that the land was leased to a person residing in government-controlled areas for the sum of 200,000 Syrian Pounds per dunum for a season

My mother died a few months ago because of the oppression in our lands and our houses, which were seized by the Assad forces, he said.

Some of Ahmads extended familys houses were destroyed, while others were pillaged.

Ahmad said he hopes to return home with his family, to the land he was deprived from working on, and to recapture all these areas from the government.

Returning to my land means that I will get rid of the hell that I live in with my children in this tent, he said.

See the rest here:

'We cannot do anything': Displaced Syrians watch as government auctions their land - Middle East Eye

LONDON British companies will face fines unless they meet new government requirements showing their supply chains are free from forced labor, the U.K.s foreign secretary said Tuesday as he announced measures aimed at tackling human rights abuses against the Uighur minority in Chinas Xinjiang region.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said officials have issued guidance to British firms with links to Xinjiang on how to carry out due diligence checks. The government intends to exclude suppliers when there is evidence of rights violations in their supply chains and also to review export controls to prevent the shipping of any goods that could contribute to such violations in Xinjiang.

Our aim, put simply, is that no company that profits from forced labor in Xinjiang can do business in the U.K., and that no U.K. business is involved in their supply chains, Raab told lawmakers.

However, Raab didnt provide details, and he stopped short of announcing specific sanctions against Chinese officials, saying that the U.K. government continues to sanctions over human rights violations under review.

Beijing has been accused of widespread rights abuses in its far western Xinjiang region, mainly targeting the Muslim Uighur population. Raab said mounting evidence, including first-hand testimony and non-profit reports, supports claims of unlawful mass detention in internment camps, widespread forced labor and forced sterilization of women on an industrial scale.

The evidence paints a harrowing picture and showed the practice of barbarism we had hoped lost to another era, Raab said.

Britains Foreign Office minister of state, James Cleverly, followed up at a U.N. Security Council meeting on combatting terrorism, pointing to Chinas severe and disproportionate measures against the Uighurs as an example of counter-terrorism measures being used to justify egregious human rights violations and oppression.

He said Beijings detention of up to 1.8 million people in Xinjiang without trial and other well-documented measures run counter to Chinas obligations under international human rights law and counter to the Security Councils requirement that counter-terrorism measures comply with those obligations.

Chinas U.N. ambassador, Zhang Jun, rejected what he termed Cleverlys groundless attacks, saying that the various narratives on Xinjiang are purely politically motivated and have no basis in the facts.

As a victim of terrorism, China has taken resolute measures to firmly fight terrorism and extremism, he said. Our action is reasonable, is based on law, and conforms to the prevailing practice of countries of the region. At the same time, he said, China has safeguarded the rights of ethnic minorities.

Chinese officials have denied the accusations and said some of the claims were fake news or lies perpetrated by Western media. They also say measures were needed to deradicalize the population after a series of attacks in the Xinjiang region several years ago.

The U.S. customs agency blocked imports of clothing and other goods from Xinjiang last year over the forced labor issue.

The foreign affairs spokesperson, for Britains opposition Labour Party, Lisa Nandy, said the strength of Raabs words did not match his actions.

Im sorry to say that that will be noticed loud and clear in Beijing, she said.

More here:

UK to use fines to target forced labor in China's Xinjiang - The Republic

It is ten years since the people of Tunisia took to the streets and started what became known as the Jasmine Revolution which led to the ouster of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011. The revolution triggered a range of similar uprisings across the Arab world, with some regimes changing as a result, as well as further oppression, mass displacement and external interference.

The Tunisians may have ended the dictatorship under which they had lived for decades, but they are still struggling to reap the benefits of their achievement. A stable, secure and prosperous Tunisia is still tantalisingly out of reach. While some long for a return to a dictatorial system, others feel that they are not yet ready to live in a democracy.

Nevertheless, they have participated in several elections, and five presidents and 13 different governments have tried to run the country in the past decade. None of these governments has stayed in office more than 18 months, and none of the political parties have been able to deliver the promised reforms due to the extreme polarisation within Tunisia. Citizens seem to have lost trust in most of the political parties, which is perhaps why they endorsed an independent academic, Kais Saied, as president in October 2019.

Tunisia's political system post-revolution is semi-presidential. The elected president nominates a prime minister, who needs the approval of parliament for his government. Power is divided between the president and parliament. The system is flawed, in that the Constitution does not allow any party to get an absolute majority, which means that the prime minister is usually an opponent of the president who nominates him.

READ: Can the Arab Spring really be an Israeli conspiracy?

When President Saied proposed Hichem Mechichi to form the government, Mechichi was closer to the president more than the parliament, but was obliged to switch his allegiance to the main political parties which form the majority in parliament in order to avoid the fate of his predecessors whose governments failed to get parliamentary approval and support. Saied found himself obliged to ignore the demands of the revolution and throw himself into the hands of the remnants of the ousted regime.

Mechichi got closer mainly to Ennahda and the Heart of Tunisia and some other parties in order to protect his government. This put the prime minister at odds with the president, who imposed certain members onto Mechichi for his cabinet. Going over the prime minister's head, Saied ordered Interior Minister Taoufik Charfeddine to make a reshuffle in his ministry, but Mechichi did not allow it to happen. He fired Charfeddine and annulled his changes.

Tunisia's former Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi in Tunis on September 3, 2020 [FETHI BELAID/AFP via Getty Images]

Observers now expect a government reshuffle. People close to the parliament and government told me that Mechichi is working to purge the government of all officials loyal to Saied. Meanwhile, tension between Saied and the parliament has risen over the division of power. According to MPs, the president has refused three times to meet with Parliamentary Speaker Rached Ghannouchi in an attempt to calm the situation. Sources claim that he also refused to meet with Prime Minister Mechichi.

Instead, Saied has apparently started to form a new alliance to stand against the prime minister and speaker, involving remnants or supporters of the ousted regime of Ben Ali. While refusing to sit with the speaker of parliament, Saied hosted Samia Abbou MP from the Democratic Bloc just four hours after declaring a hunger strike in protest against "chaos" in the legislature. While he refuses to meet with his prime minister, he has met with the former interior minister to discuss security issues in the country.

Moreover, with Saied refusing a proposal from Ghannouchi to reduce political tension in Tunisia, he has met with Noureddine Taboubi, the Secretary-General of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT). According to the leader of the parliamentarian Al-Karam Coalition, Seif Eddine Makhlouf, the union has been operating against the interests of the Tunisian people. Despite this, Saied accepted Taboubi's proposal unconditionally.

READ: Tunisia's road to democracy

In the middle of this, the leader of the Heart of Tunisia party, Nabil Karoui, was arrested over a case that dates back to 2016, reported Al Jazeera. The president hailed the detention of his political opponent. Ghannouchi not only expressed his sadness over what happened to an ally, but also reiterated his confidence in the Tunisian judiciary which, he said, would release Karoui due to the lack of evidence.

In a series of articles published by Al Jazeera Arabic website, former President Moncef Al-Marzouki described the Constitutional Article which does not allow any party to achieve a majority as "dirty", and said that it targeted Ennahda, the only organised and popular party which emerged in strength after the revolution. He said that the Article in question also aimed to turn parliament into a political battleground in which no parties can make any significant decisions or approve any essential proposals.

Ten years down the line from the revolution, the Tunisian people must be disappointed with President Kais Saied, who is ruling the country despite not having any political background. The man has failed to fulfil any of the Tunisians' aspirations which they had sought through their revolution. Instead, he has polarised their country even more.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

See the article here:

Ten years after the revolution, Tunisia's president is polarising the country - Middle East Monitor

ISRAEL is an apartheid state,increasing its oppression of Palestinians in a system entrenched via military occupation and racist laws,Israeli human-rights group BTselemsaid today.

It published a new paper warning: A regime of Jewish supremacy exists from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean sea. This is apartheid.

The reportdismisses notions that Israel is a democracy representing some sixmillion people while simultaneously holding a further five millionPalestinians under temporary military occupation.

BTselem insiststhere are not two parallel systemsbut a single one governing all the people that live under it.

It reports thatthe situation for Palestinians has worsened with the implementation in 2018 of Israels Nation State Basic Law,legislation that received global condemnation after affirming that national rights in Israel belong only to the Jewish people.

The law permits institutional discrimination in land management and development, housing, citizenship, language and culture, BTselem says, and has legalised the second-class status of Palestinians.

The report explainsthat Israeli illegal settlement structures have expanded to construct a Jewish-only statewithout building a single community for Palestinians,instead destroying their homes.

Since the 1948 establishment of the state ofIsrael, Tel Avivhas taken over 90 per cent of the land encompassed bythe so-called Green Line, the pre-1967border between Israel and the occupied territories.And since 1967, Israel has expanded into the occupied West Bank, building more than 280 illegal settlements for more than 600,000 Jewish Israeli citizens in breach of international law and UN resolutions.

BTselemconcludes: The bar for defining the Israeli regime as an apartheid regime has been met after considering the accumulation of policies and laws that Israel devised to entrench its control over Palestinians.

BTselem spokesman Hagai el-Ad said: Israel is not a democracy that has a temporary occupation attached to it: it is one regime between the Jordan river to the Mediterranean sea, and we must look at the full picture and see it for what it is: apartheid.

This sobering look at reality need not lead to despair, but quite the opposite. It is a call for change. After all, people created this regime, and people can change it.

View post:

'This is apartheid,' Israeli human-rights group condemns government - Morning Star Online

The Uganda Communications Commission Tuesday issued an order banning more than 100 social media platforms and messaging apps until further notice by the communications regulator. The order appears to have been a pushback against Facebook for deleting pro-government accounts that were manipulating public debate in connection with the countrys presidential elections held Thursday.

Internet providers received a notice on Monday stating:

Uganda Communications Commission hereby directs you to immediately suspend any access and use, direct or otherwise, of all social media platforms and online messaging applications over your network until further notice.

Users are unable to access or use popular forums such as Facebook and Whatsapp that have played a great role in campaigning and information dissemination by all sides of the election. Although the ban is believed to be in retaliation against Facebook, services such as Twitter, Viber and Signal have also been banned.

The move has been criticised by Amnesty International for restricting peoples right freedom of expression and access to information. The human rights group expressed concern over the political environment of high-ranking government officials using violence and threats to crackdown upon political opposition, journalists and human rights activists.

The move is clearly intended to silence the few accredited election observers, opposition politicians, human rights defenders, activists, journalists and bloggers who are monitoring the elections.

The organisation has asked Ugandan authorities to immediately uplift the ban and end political oppression before the presidential election.

Uganda has often imposed social media shutdowns to dampen dissent during elections. In 2011, the authorities temporarily blocked access to Facebook and Twitter for 24 hours and in 2016, the authorities blocked all social media platforms for four days in February and one day in March.

The present ban has continued for three days as the election now enters the vote-counting stage. Opposition leader Bobi Wine is confident of defeating the incumbent President Yoweri Museveni and has rejected early results indicating Musevenis lead.

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Uganda bans social media and messaging apps in election period - JURIST

Good morning! This is our daily news roundupwith everything you need to know in one concise read. Sign up here to get this delivered to your inbox every morning.

Thousands of Canadians are thumbing their noses at government advice to stay home and hopping international flights to sunny destinations even as the COVID-19 crisis worsens in many parts of the country, CBC News has found.

Canadian air carriers operated more than 1,500 flights between Canada and 18 popular vacation destinations since Oct. 1, even as caseloads rise and the health crisis deepens.

While international travel is permitted, the federal government has been advising Canadians for nearly a year to avoid all "non-essential travel" outside the country without offering a clear definition or tools for authorities to prevent it.

CBC News tracked Canadian non-stop flights to and from popular resort destinations using data from Flightradar24.com between Oct. 1, 2020, and Jan. 16, 2021. Of the 1,516 flights analyzed, some of the most popular routes departing from Canada included 214 flights between Toronto and Montego Bay, Jamaica, and 183 flights between Montreal and Cancun, Mexico. CBC excluded all known cancelled flights, as schedules continue to change.

WATCH |Travel rates 'worrying,' epidemiologist says:

Raywat Deonandan, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Ottawa, says the data suggests a small portion of the Canadian public is choosing to disregard public health advice, putting themselves and the countries they visit at risk.

"I try not to judge people. Everyone's got their reasons," he said. "Maybe they need, you know, some kind of stress relief." However, for that many people to be knowingly acting against public health advice, there is likely some selfishness at play, he said.Read more on this story here.

(Matias Delacroix/The Associated Press)

Government doctors help each other put on protective gowns as they prepare to give free, rapid COVID-19 tests to residents who volunteer in the El Paraiso neighbourhood of Caracas, Venezuela, on Thursday.

The military commander leading Canada's COVID-19 vaccine logistics says manufacturers are expected to deliver up to one million doses a week starting in April.Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin said Thursday that the country will shift in the spring from phase one of the vaccine rollout immunizing particularly vulnerable people, such as long-term care home residents, some Indigenous adults and health-care providers to a wider rollout as deliveries become larger and more frequent. The federal government is expecting up to six million doses enough for three million people to be fully vaccinated using the Pfizer and Moderna two-dose products by the end of March. But Fortin conceded the government is still negotiating a delivery schedule. "We have a scarcity of vaccines in the first quarter," Fortin said. April will mark the start of what he's calling the "ramp-up phase."Read more on the vaccine rollout here.

As global demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) surges during the pandemic, so has the human cost for those making it overseas, an investigation by CBC'sMarketplacehas found.It revealed that some of the life-saving equipment Canadian health-care workers are using appears to be made in sweatshop-like conditions raising doubts about Canada's commitment to international human rights and its ability to prevent unethically sourced goods from entering the country. "We can say without doubt that the [glove] industry remains a hotbed of systemic forced labour and modern slavery," said Andy Hall, an international migrant worker rights specialist based in Southeast Asia. "[Migrant workers] are not seen as human beings. They're often treated as second-class citizens and systemically abused." Several Canadian companies that have tens of millions of dollars in PPE contracts with the federal government imported goods from the Malaysian manufacturersMarketplaceinvestigated.Read more onthis story here.

WATCH | How unethically sourced PPE could be ending up in some Canadian hospitals:

Planning is now underway in Quebec and Ontario to prepare for the possibility hospitals may have to make a choice between who gets access to critical care beds when the demand for space exceeds capacity.It's a scenario some doctors never thought they would have to face and are still desperately trying to avoid. Staff at Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital and Montreal General Hospital will soon begin "dry runs," in which a group of three staff will decide if a patient is best suited to receive critical care, or if the bed should be left for someone with a better chance of survival, said Dr. Peter Goldberg, head of critical care at Montreal's McGill University Health Centre. Ontario, which also risks being overwhelmed with COVID-19 hospital patients, sent out a memo to ICU doctors on Wednesday to prepare to implement triage protocol if necessary.Read more on the critical care preparations here.

WATCH | Hospitals establish criteria for prioritizing critical COVID-19 patients:

West Vancouver billionaire Frank Giustra has been given the go-ahead to sue Twitter in a B.C. courtroom over the social media giant's publication of a series of tweets tying him to baseless conspiracy theories involving pedophile rings and Bill and Hillary Clinton.In a ruling released Thursday, Justice Elliott Myers found that Giustra's history and presence in B.C., combined with the possibility the tweets may have been seen by as many as 500,000 B.C. Twitter users, meant a provincial court should have jurisdiction over the case. It's a victory not only for Giustra, but for Canadian plaintiffs trying to hold U.S.-based internet platforms responsible for border-crossing content. In a statement, Giustra said he was looking forward to pursuing the case in the province where he built his reputation as the founder of Lionsgate Entertainment.Read more on the court case here.

A Moscow kebab shop owner is facing a backlash after he opened a take-out food shop bearing the name of Joseph Stalin.As CBC Moscow correspondent Chris Brown reports, Russians remain deeply conflicted over the totalitarian wartime leader's legacy and how they should see him today. Some say that using the image of a man responsible for millions of Russian deaths in the last century to sell fast food is a terrible sign that modern-day Russia is forgetting the oppression of its Communist past. The chief cook and creator of Stalin Doner views it differently. Stanislav Voltman, 27, opened his storefront in the middle of the Russian new year holiday last week and celebrated a vigorous first day serving more than 200 customers.Read more on the controversial food shop here.

Now for some good news to start your Friday:A southwest Calgary couple has found an inventive way to skip the lines at the ski resort this winter by turning their backyard into their own ski hill, complete with its own tow rope. It's only about 90 metres, so about the size of a bunny hill, but it still gets the kids up and down in a jiffy. One of the creators, Heather Park, says she suggested the idea so their three young daughters could keep busy this winter since many activities are closed. Her mechanical engineer husband, Ian, designed and built the tow by using a three-horsepower motor, yellow rope and a pulley system. He says it took him about 30 hours and a lot of trial and error to get it working right. "We have a great little slope in our backyard and it's perfect for kids to learn how to ski on," said Heather.Read more and check out the video here.

In the wake of last week's attack on the U.S. Capitol, the Proud Boys a group founded by Canadian Gavin McInnes has been under intense pressure. The FBI is arresting some of its members. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has called for it to be designated a terrorist group, and the federal government is considering it. Today, how the Proud Boys started, and where they ended up, with Jared Holt a visiting researcher at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab who studies domestic extremism.

Front Burner27:33The Proud Boys: A brief history

1892:James Naismith first publishes his 13 rules of basketball in Triangle magazine in Springfield, Mass. The Almonte, Ont.-native devised the game the previous year whileteaching at the Springfield YMCA.

1950:A Royal Canadian Air Force crew arrives in Halifax from Vancouver, ending a record-setting flight in a four-engineNorth Star. At eight hours and 25 minutes, it was then the fastest non-stop, coast-to-coast flight in Canadian aviation history.

1990:Drastic cuts in Via Rail service take effect, eliminating more than 2,500 jobs and half of the railway's 38 routes.

2004:The NASA Spirit rover rolls onto the surface of Mars for the first time since the vehicle bounced to a landing nearly two weeks earlier.

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Get informed on the top stories of the day in one quick scan - CBC.ca

The usefulness of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies has long been discussed globally. The debate is normally focused on the qualities of cryptoassets as economic and financial instruments. However, the crypto world can also play a role as a tool in the fight against authoritarian governments. As Peter McCormack comments in the Tweet of the day, where he assures that Bitcoin is a tool against oppression:

Democracy is in crisis, and that is a reality that touches absolutely all of us, no matter the country in which we find ourselves. Be it with spectacular events like the attack on the Capitol in the United States, or more subtle moves by authoritarian governments to undermine democratic institutions. It is clear that this is a difficult time for liberal democracy.

In this context, it is difficult to imagine what role Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies can play. After all, normally BTC has been presented as a challenge against fiat money, and not exactly as a tool to fight for democracy.

However, this view can be misleading. Well, at the end of the day, the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies makes them fertile ground for use in the fight against authoritarian governments.

Since, Blockchain technology places crypto assets in a terrain impossible for any government to manipulate. The reason why Bitcoin has become a tool against oppression in countries like Belarus, as Peter McCormack commented through his Twitter account.

Tell it to people in Nigeria and Belarus who use Bitcoin to survive while protesting oppressive regimes.

Thus, in the face of attempts by authoritarian governments around the world to subdue the citizenry. People turn to Bitcoin not just as a means to save, but as a survival tool. Thanks to which activists from all over the planet are facing oppression, using Blockchain technology, in places as diverse as Nigeria, Belarus or even Venezuela.

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Bitcoin is a tool against oppression - Explica

The medical universities switch to the new, government-preferred foundation-based working model is on the agenda. So far, eight higher education institutions did so or were forced to do so, and two more would switch over in 2021. The government says it aims to raise competitiveness and reliability. The Hungarian way, however, differs from the international examples, and is still under debate from many aspects.

According to the governments proposal, the new working model follows international tendencies, namely the Anglo-Saxon way. Instead of the state, the newly-established foundation will exercise the founders rights and procedural application. Its board of trustees would accept the budget, the annual report, the organizational and operational regulations, and be responsible for the institutions development and asset management. Decisions will be brought by them, instead of the democratically-elected senate. The board of trustees will also have more of a say in the rectors appointment. The new working model is closer to the markets more competitive requirements; as a result, workers public employee status will be terminated, they will become normal employees; as a result, performance would be given greater emphasis, but they can be fired more easily, too.

The board of trustees is first named by the leader of the Ministry of Innovation and Technology (ITM-overseer of higher education) but after 2022, he can transfer the foundation rights to the board of trustees.

Increasing number of universities joining new model

It was the Corvinus University of Budapest that served as the pilot project and eventually switched to the new model in 2019. Then, last year, six more followed suit until August: the University of Veterinary Medicine and Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME) in Budapest, the University of Miskolc, the University of Sopron, Gyrs Szchenyi Istvn University, and the John von Neumann University in Kecskemt.

Budapests University of Theater and Film Arts (SZFE) officially switched in September. From February 2020, the Szent Istvn University (after uniting a number of agricultural faculties across the country and the University of Kaposvr) will become the vast University of Agriculture and Life Sciences with the same mode of operation. The transition of the Pannon University in Veszprm is foreseen to occur in September 2021.

Government: Hungarian higher educations competitiveness has to be increased

The government says this new working model would raise efficacy and competitiveness thanks to larger exposure to the market, as well as financial reliability thanks to the long-term agreements and guarantees about money. And without the governmental administration, the privatized universities could enter into various projects more easily. In the governments view, this would also ensure greater independence for the institutions, since the government would not be involved in their direct management.

According to IT minister Lszl Palkovics, the governments aim was to create a simpler and more efficient operating environment in the higher education sector. He said the government wanted Hungarian universities to operate under the same conditions that universities in other countries or Hungarian private universities do, and the institutions should not be unnecessarily burdened by matters that do not fit into such a structure.

Palkovics said the innovation capabilities of Hungarian-owned businesses must be improved if Hungarys productivity is to be increased, and this is for what the universities can provide a background.

New system too close to politics?

According to a group of critics, however, the changes will not cease the governments oversee; in fact, on the contrary, as it would pull these universities closer to the governments and Fideszs circles. While in international examples the senate and the rector make decisions, in this model, all the essential power falls into the hands of the board of trustees and the senates power is reduced.

Considering that the board of trustees of those universities already operating in this model include a number of politicians or pro-govt economic actors, it is doubtful how the government would reduce its influence. Just some examples: the Justice Minister is involved with the University of Miskolcs board of trustees, the Foreign Minister and the citys Fidesz mayor (a cardiologist by profession) in Gyr, and former PMO Chief and Fidesz strongman Jnos Lzr, and the agricultural minister Istvn Nagy will be involved in the aforementioned, newly-founded agricultural universitys board of trustees. According to fresh media reports, Szeged would be no exception either, as the family minister could be included in the board of trustees, along with the former Fidesz-backed but independent contender of the citys incumbent, left-liberal mayor. Some believe that what is happening now is the privatization of the Hungarian universities to Fidesz circles.

Too much exposure to the markets demands could also be a point of friction, and those involved also regularly highlight the lack of proper transparency guarantees, and contrary to the anglo-saxon system, the lack of checks and balances and autonomy. In addition, some fear that the new model would sooner or later result in the increase of tuition fees and in the increasing number of students either falling out of the system or falling short of the chance for admission.

While most transitions went relatively smoothly and without major opposition, it was the aforementioned SZFEs that drew the loudest opposition and criticism, even making it to the international headlines as well. After 71 days of blockades and protests, it seems that the government will eventually manage to push through its will at SZFE too. The government, however, is set to name their own Fidesz-linked candidates without any kind of compromise, among them Orbn-ally director Attila Vidnynszky. Not surprisingly, this was regarded by many as consolidation (or repression, if not oppression) of a university (and sphere) where liberal thought has always been dominant, a motivation that certain government politicians statements also confirmed.

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Students of the University of Theatre and Film Arts (SZFE) were forced to give up their barricade of the institutions main campus yesterday due to Hungarys new coronavirus restrictions. As what can now only be described as the SZFE movement is put on the backburner, we examine how it unfolded over the past months. Due []Continue reading

Medical universities free to decide

Coming back to the latest news, Budapests Semmelweis Universitys (SOTE) transition is already almost a done deal that can be completed in 2022, according to Npszava. The potential transition of the other three medical universities (Debrecen, Pcs, Szeged) is also on the table. In reference to press reports, the left-wing daily also suggested that perhaps the unification of these in order to establish one large medical university could also be on the agenda (although those involved deny this).

Anyhow, after the Tuesday talks with the four medical universities involved, Lszl Palkovics promised that they are free to decide whether they want to shift to this new working model. The ministry also said it was timing its consultations with universities on their strategic and developmental plans to coincide with the start of the new European Union funding cycle, offering them a chance to shift to the new operational model.

The rectors assured him that they would soon notify the ministry of the decisions made by their respective senates.

Featured photo illustration by Balzs Mohai/MTI

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Medical Universities Can Switch to Debated Foundation-based Model - Hungary Today